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Collot d'Herbois, Jean-Marie

Jean-Marie Collot, dit Collot d'Herbois

b. 19 Jun 1749, Paris, France
d. 8 Jun 1796, Cayenne, French Guiana [1]

Title: Président de la Convention nationale (President of the National Convention)
Term: 13 Jun 1793 - 27 Jun 1793
Chronology: 13 Jun 1793, elected, assumed the chair immediately upon the proclamation of election, session of the National Convention, salle des Machines, Palais national des Tuileries, Paris [2]
27 Jun 1793, ceased to exercise the functions of office upon the election of a successor [3]
Term: 19 Jul 1794 - 3 Aug 1794
Chronology: 19 Jul 1794, elected, session of the National Convention, salle des Machines, Palais national des Tuileries, Paris [4]
20 Jul 1794, assumed the chair, session of the National Convention, salle des Machines, Palais national des Tuileries, Paris [5]
3 Aug 1794, ceased to exercise the functions of office upon the election of a successor [6]
Biography:
Son of a Parisian goldsmith; educated by the Oratorians; at the age of eighteen, joined the traveling theatres; wrote more than twenty plays; became manager of the theatrical troupes; director of a theatre at Lyon (1786); at the outbreak of the Revolution returned to Paris, where employed actor's skills for organizing revolutionary celebrations; joined the Jacobin Club in Paris (1790); acquired great popularity with the publication of L'Almanach du Père Gérard, a book advocating constitutional monarchy (1791); was a member of the Commune of Paris and actively participated in the insurrection of 10 Aug 1792; elected to the Convention nationale (National Convention) (1792-1795) as a deputy for Paris; took seat with the extreme left Montagnards; demanded abolition of kingship at the meeting of the Convention (21 Sep 1792); voted for the death sentence in the trial of King Louis XVI; as a representative of the Convention (9 Mar 1793 - 30 Apr 1793), sent to the départements Nièvre and Loiret to oversee the levy of 300,000 soldiers; vigorously supported the expulsion and proscription of the Girondins; served as President of the National Convention (13 Jun 1793 - 27 Jun 1793, 19 Jul 1794 - 3 Aug 1794); was elected a member of the Comité de salut public (Committee of Public Safety) (6 Sep 1793 - 1 Sep 1794) along with his friend, Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne; went on a mission as the representative of the Convention (30 Oct 1793 - 18 Dec 1793) to Lyon (renamed Ville-Affranchie), where mercilessly suppressed a counterrevolutionary revolt; survived an assassination attempt (23 May 1794); presided the Convention during the coup of 9 Thermidor, Year II (27 Jul 1794); resigned the membership in the Committee of Public Safety (1 Sep 1794); was accused of complicity with Maximilien Robespierre and condemned to exile (1 Apr 1795) at the same time as Billaud-Varenne, Bertrand Barère and Marc Vadier; sent to the Isle of Oléron and then to French Guiana, where died of yellow fever.
Biographical sources: Dictionnaire des Conventionnels, 145-149; Dictionnaire des parlementaires français 1789-1889, 2:155-156; "Curiosités révolutionnaires. Billaud-Varenne, membre du comité de Salut public. Mémoires inédits et correspondance accompagnés de Notices biographiques sur Billaud Varenne et Collot-d'Herbois", ed. by Alfred Bégis (Paris: Librairie de la Nouvelle Revue, 1893) (web site).
Elections:

Candidate Votes (13 Jun 1793)
Jean-Marie Collot, dit Collot d'Herbois 157
Charles-Antoine Chasset n/a
voters 241

Candidate Votes (19 Jul 1794)
Jean-Marie Collot, dit Collot d'Herbois absolute majority
Source of electoral results: Archives parlementaires - Série 1, 66:508; Procès-verbal de la Convention nationale, 13:278; Archives parlementaires - Série 1, 93:323; Procès-verbal de la Convention nationale, 42:26.

[1] A detailed summary of sickness and death of Collot at the military hospital of Cayenne on 8 Jun 1796 (and not on 8 Jan 1796 at Sinnamary) is found in Curiosités révolutionnaires. Billaud-Varenne, membre du comité de Salut public, op. cit., pp. 90-93.
[2] Archives parlementaires - Série 1, 66:508; Procès-verbal de la Convention nationale, 13:278.
[3] Archives parlementaires - Série 1, 67:603; Procès-verbal de la Convention nationale, 14:373.
[4] Archives parlementaires - Série 1, 93:323; Procès-verbal de la Convention nationale, 42:26.
[5] Archives parlementaires - Série 1, 93:325.
[6] Archives parlementaires - Série 1, 94:124; Procès-verbal de la Convention nationale, 43:12.
Image: portrait by Jean-Louis Laneuville.